


Final Destination

by maryperk



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Character Deaths (Lots of them), F/M, Final Destination Fusion, Spike is Giles' Son, Sunnydale is still Sunnydale, Xander's POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-05
Updated: 2014-06-05
Packaged: 2018-02-03 11:34:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1743239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maryperk/pseuds/maryperk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the movie Final Destination. Xander Harris has a dream that changes his life. Alternate Universe.   Spuffy pairing with a Xander POV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Alexander 'Xander' Harris lay on his bed, lost in thought. He was thinking about the last two weeks of his life and the bus ride that had started all this craziness. He took a swig from his whiskey bottle as he slipped back in time...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TWO WEEKS PRIOR

It was a gorgeous May morning in Sunnydale, California. The political science class was getting ready for its annual overnight trip to the state capitol. where they would observe the government at work. Two teachers were accompanying them as chaperones; Anya Jenkins, the political science teacher, and Rupert Giles, the librarian.

Slouched against the side of the bus, Xander Harris yawned sleepily. He watched balefully as the popular kids got on the bus first, the cheerleaders and their jock boyfriends taking up the very back of the bus. Cordelia Chase and Harmony Kendall were definitely the leaders of that particular group.

They were followed by Warren Meers, Jonathan Levinson, and Andrew Wells, a trio that the other students had dubbed the Nerd Herd. They wore their title proudly, though, and it suited them. Warren was a genius, heavily into robotics while Jonathan and Andrew served as his faithful minions.

Next on the bus were the musicians; Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne and Devon Richards of 'Dingo's Ate My Baby'. Oz was a quiet young man that could have easily fit in with the Nerd Herd, while Devon spent most of his time smoking whatever he could get his hands on.

Rupert Giles got on the bus followed by his son, William. William was able to move easily among the other groups. He had briefly dated Harmony, jammed with Oz and Devon, and had even hung out with Andrew on occasion.

Xander waited with bated breath for the two most gorgeous girls in school to appear----cousins Buffy Summers and Faith Lehane. One a delicate blond and the other a sultry brunette, they were a delicious contrast. Unfortunately, neither saw Xander as more than a good buddy.

Jesse and Willow, Xander's friends since kindergarten, finally arrived. The three of them got on the bus and took their seats. 

"Attention everybody," Miss Jenkins called from the front of the bus.

Behind him, Oz dropped his walkman and Xander could hear the strains of 'Dust in the Wind' by Kansas coming from the headphones.

"Attention!" Miss Jenkins said louder.

Mr. Giles rose to his feet and bellowed, "You will listen to Miss Jenkins now, or all of you will spend some time this Saturday cleaning the library!" His threat quieted the noisy teenagers down.

"Thank you, Rupert." Miss Jenkins smiled brightly at the librarian, who blushed profusely before he sat down.

Xander heard William make a remark to his father about 'tarty stepmothers'.

"Now, students," Miss Jenkins continued. "I expect you to be on your best behavior. Let's show everyone that Sunnydale High is a school of thoughtful, well-bred students. So, to that end, there will be no public orgasms, no matter how thrilling they can be."

"Anya!" Rupert spluttered as the teenagers laughed.

Miss Jenkins rolled her eyes. "You may close the doors and start the bus, Mr. Gunn."

Mr. Gunn reached out to grab the lever to close the doors and accidentally hit the buttons on the radio. 'Dust in the Wind' lyrics poured from the vehicle's stereo system speakers at full volume, nearly deafening the passengers. Mr. Gunn quickly turned it off. "Sorry," he muttered.

The bus lumbered through the early morning sunshine. Xander heard cursing and turned to see Devon had broken one of his drumsticks. He also noticed when Buffy leaned over to whisper in William's ear with a secretive little smile curving her lips.

"Wonder if they're destined to be Sunnydale High's next big romance?" Willow whispered. Her eyes were also on Buffy and William.

"They'd be good together," Jesse said. "They could probably conquer the world if they wanted. He's got the brains and she has the beauty."

Xander shrugged and turned to stare pensively out the window. The bus was nearing the edge of town where the drive-in theater stood. He glanced at the movie titles. Maybe the three of them could go to the movies when they got back from Sacramento. He suddenly realized that the first word of each movie was spelled out in bold red letters that read ----

_Dust_

_In_

_The_

_Wind_

"Okay, that's kinda freaky," Xander muttered.

"What's freaky?"

Xander turned to find Faith sitting next to him. He was surprised to see her, but tried to act as nonchalant as possible. "Nothing. Hey, how are you?"

"Five by five, Xander." The dark-haired girl grinned. She settled down in the seat and closed her eyes. "Wake me up at the first piss break."

"S-sure," Xander stammered. 

When he turned back to the window, he realized that they were just starting to cross over the Wilkins Bridge. A week prior, Sunnydale had been hit by a tremor ranging in the 5.1 range. Xander was vaguely surprised to see the bridge was open, but he guessed that the damage inspectors had given the all clear.

The bus was halfway across when the bridge started to sway. Mr. Gunn slowed to a crawl, but as the momentum built up, the nervous driver couldn't keep the bus in its lane. Everyone screamed as the bus lurched violently to the left, crashing into the flimsy railing.

The sound of breaking concrete and twisting rebar filled the air. The bus tilted to one side. Xander grabbed Faith's arm when she started to fall to the floor. She screamed when the bus completely tipped on its side. The two teenagers fell, hurled to the other side of the bus where they landed heavily on several other students.

Shaking his dazed head in an effort to clear his vision Xander checked out the state of his fellow passengers. Faith was swearing viciously and holding her ribs. Miss Jenkins had a bruise on her forehead and Harmony cradled one of her arms. It was probably only a sprain, but she wailed like it had been cut off.

Oz and Devon were at the back of the bus trying to open the emergency exit, but it was jammed. Mr. Gunn attempted to open the regular front doors, but they, too, were jammed tightly shut.

The bus suddenly fell several feet as the bridge broke. Outside the bus, the teenagers saw three cars fall through a crack in the concrete.

"We're all gonna die!" Andrew screamed. "I haven't even been to my first Star Wars convention," he sobbed.

"Shut up, Wells!" Several panicky voices echoed each other.

The bus fell a few more feet before settling again.

"Xander and William, can you break out one of the windows?" Mr. Giles pointed above their heads.

"We can try, Dad." William slowly crept towards Xander. When he got to the other boy, he looked up at the window. "Maybe we can jimmy it open. We need someone small and light to lift close enough to reach it, though. Come here, Summers."

"Sure." Buffy carefully maneuvered herself to the two boys. When they lifted her to the window, it easily opened for her. "Lift me higher, guys," she ordered excitedly. "I think I can wiggle through."

"Looks like all those gymnastics classes were good for something after all," Faith commented when Buffy climbed expertly onto Xander and William's shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah." Buffy slid through the window. After inching carefully to her feet, she stood on the side of the bus and called back down, "Move. I'm gonna see if I can break the window."

When Xander and William moved out of the way Buffy broke the glass with a swift kick from her heel. Unfortunately, at that same moment, a minivan careened into the rear of the bus and dislodged it from its resting spot. Buffy lost her footing and she fell against the side, letting out a scream as she began to slide.

The bus tilted in the air, the heavy front end tipping forward. Inside, the passengers tried to grab onto the seats, but a few of them, like the injured Harmony, were unable to. She was flung onto the windshield. Her head cracked open, splattering blood everywhere.

Outside, Buffy slid helplessly down the side of the bus, but at the last minute, her hand shot out and she caught the side mirror. She twisted her lithe, petite body around the metal and glass and started to pray for her life.

Inside, the terrified students were clinging to the seats and each other for dear life. Xander wondered how they could possibly make it out of this alive.

"I don't want to die! I don't want to die!" Cordelia Chase screamed. She lost her death grip on her brawny boyfriend and fell to the front of the bus, landing on Harmony.

The bus hit the river nose first and started to sink. Water gushed in around the seal on the front doors and the driver's window. Mr Gunn helped Cordelia scramble to catch hold of the first set of passenger seats. He turned back to grab Harmony, but he found it was too late.

"William, get out the window, now!" Rupert screamed at his son. The others heard the librarian's command and they all scrambled for freedom.

Warren Meers got to the opening first. He was halfway out the window when one of the football players grabbed his foot and dragged him back inside. Flung to the side, Warren whacked his head on one of the seats and slipped unconcious to the floor.

"Help me!" Cordelia cried. "There's something wrong with my legs."

"I think I smell gas in the water," Mr. Gunn said. "Be careful." He helped Cordelia the best he could.

Xander went to help Mr. Gunn with the dark-haired cheerleader. He watched with horrified fascination as the stereo system, now saturated with water, started to spark. One of the sparks hit the gasoline laden water and it ignited with an ominous _whoosh_. He watched in fascinated horror as the flames whirled and danced, engulfing Mr. Gunn and a screaming Cordelia before sweeping towards the rest of them.

Fire licked at his flesh and a scream bubbled up in his throat as Xander felt his face melting like wax in the searing heat.

_"Wake up, man!"_

Jesse shook Xander's shoulder roughly. "I swear, dude, you're the only person I know that can sleep standing up."

Xander watched as Buffy and Faith got on the bus. He felt shaky and sick to his stomach over the realism of the dream. He could swear that he still felt the flames licking at his flesh "It was all a dream," Xander mumbled, trying to reassure himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Xander climbed warily onto the bus. The dream had shaken him more than he wanted to admit. 

He had always known that odd things happened in Sunnydale. It danced around the edges of your consciousness, like a phantom that disappears when you try to look at it directly. There were rules in Sunnydale; don't wander around in cemeteries after dark, don't invite strangers into your home, and May is primo vacation time. Those were the facts of life in Sunnydale, California. Xander was smart enough to know a weird dream measured pretty low on the wacky scale.

"Attention everybody," Miss Jenkins called from the front of the bus.

Behind him, Oz dropped his walkman and Xander could hear the strains of 'Dust in the Wind' by Kansas coming from the headphones.

"Attention!" Miss Jenkins said louder.

Mr. Giles rose to his feet and bellowed, "You will listen to Miss Jenkins now, or all of you will spend some time this Saturday cleaning the library." His threat quieted the noisy teenagers down.

"Thank you, Rupert." Miss Jenkins smiled brightly at the librarian who blushed profusely before he sat down.

Xander heard William make a remark to his father about 'tarty stepmothers'. 

_Just like his dream!_

A sense of déja vu fell over the dark-haired teenager, but he shrugged it off as his overactive imagination.

"Now, students," Miss Jenkins continued. "I expect you to be on your best behavior. Let's show everyone that Sunnydale High is a school of thoughtful, well-bred students. So, to that end, there will be no public orgasms, no matter how thrilling they can be."

"Anya!" Rupert spluttered as the teenagers laughed.

Miss Jenkins rolled her eyes. "You may close the doors and start the bus, Mr. Gunn."

Mr. Gunn reached out to grab the lever to close the doors and he accidentally hit the buttons on the radio. 'Dust in the Wind' lyrics poured from the vehicle's stereo system speakers at full volume, nearly deafening the passengers. 

Mr. Gunn quickly turned it off. "Sorry," he muttered.

Xander was starting to feel really uncomfortable. His dream was playing out with amazing accuracy. _I'll keep it together, but if the drive-in marquee is the same as the one in my dream, I'm getting off this damned bus,_ he thought to himself. _It could just be a coincidence, right? I mean, 'Dust in the Wind' was a popular song, wasn't it?_

The bus lumbered through the early morning sunshine. Xander felt queasy as the events seemed to slow down around him and he fought to concentrate on every little detail. He heard cursing and turned to see that Devon had broken one of his drumsticks. He also noticed that Buffy leaned over to whisper in William's ear with a secretive little smile curving her lips. 

Willow's and Jesse's voices were slightly distorted to his ears. "Wonder if they're destined to be Sunnydale High's next big romance?" Willow whispered. Her eyes were also on Buffy and William.

"They'd be good together," Jesse said. "They could probably conquer the world together if they wanted. He's got the brains and she has the beauty."

Xander shrugged and turned to stare pensively out the window. As long as the movie titles were different, he was home free This would be nothing but a big, wacky, dream deja vu.

The bus was nearing the edge of town where the drive-in theater stood and he glanced fearfully at the movie titles. Horrified, he realized with dread that the first word of each movie was spelled out in bold red letters and they read --

_Dust_

_In_

_The_

_Wind_

Xander leapt to his feet and yelled, "Stop the bus! I want off right now. We're all about to die. Let me off!" Nearly mindless with fear, he rushed towards the front of the moving bus. "Let me off, now!"

"Xander, what's wrong?" Willow cried. She had never seen her friend so distraught before. "Are you okay?"

"I just want off the bus, now!" Xander continued to fight his way to the front of the bus.

"Stop the bus, Mr. Gunn," Ms. Jenkins said. "If Xander really wants off the bus, then we'll just let him off." She smiled at the bus driver, who quickly obeyed her request.

"The bridge is going to go out," Xander said. "We should turn around and go back!" 

"Get a life, Harris," Cordelia called out snidely. "I've been counting on this trip to get away from my dad for the last three months. Some stupid daydream by a loser like you isn't going to stop me from my total shopping experience in a town bigger than this backwater place."

"Yeah, geekazoid," Harmony echoed her leader's sentiments.

"We'll get off with you, Xander." Buffy joined Xander, and she patted the boy on the shoulder. "Won't we, Faith?"

"Sure thing." Faith rose to her feet. "Any excuse to get out of going, I say." She grabbed her jacket and strutted to the front of the bus.

"I can't let you get off the bus without an adult," Ms. Jenkins protested.

"I'll do it." Mr. Giles climbed to his feet. "Grab our bags, William." He turned to the rest of the students. "Is there anyone else who wants to get off with us?" 

Oz and Andrew Wells stood up and gathered their things. Both boys had seen too many things that went bump in the night not to disbelieve that Xander Harris might have dreamed their death. 

"Are you coming with me, Jesse? Willow? Please?" Xander begged his friends, but both gave him a wide eyed looks that told him they were having serious doubts about his sanity. Giving them one last pleading look, Xander sighed deep in his chest regretfully and led the small troupe of volunteers off the bus.

Mr. Gunn closed the doors after Giles and the students left the bus, his face ashy pale as he stared longingly after them. He wanted to join them, but with a pregnant wife at home, he couldn't afford to get fired. Swallowing heavily, he put the bus in gear started slowly moving towards the bridge.

"Thanks, Xan-man," Faith said happily. She glanced over at Mr. Giles, but the gentleman was busy rearranging his glasses. "There's a killer party I wanted to go to on Friday, and you just provided the perfect excuse to get out of that boring trip." 

"What freaked you out, man?" Oz asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Xander watched as the bus pulled away. He was still feeling a bit shaky. He crossed his fingers and whispered a prayer when the school bus started across the bridge.

"Can't be any weirder than some of the other things I've seen," Andrew muttered.

Xander turned to ask Andrew what he meant, but before he could get the words out, someone screamed.

"Look at the bridge!” Buffy cried out. “It’s starting to sway.”

The group watched in absolute horror -- Xander even more so than the rest -- as the bridge swayed wildly. They saw the bus slide out of control and into the flimsy railing.

The distant sound of breaking concrete and twisting rebar reached the group’s ears, and Xander grabbed Faith’s arm when the bus tilted to the side.

“It’s just like my dream,” Xander gasped. His face once again paled.

“They’ll be getting out soon,” Andrew whispered. “There’s more than one emergency door.”

“The doors are jammed,” Xander said softly. The dream flashed before his eyes. "They can't get out."

"Oh, my God!" Faith screamed. "The bridge ... it's breaking in two!"

They watched, paralyzed with dread as the school bus that they'd just been on moments before plummeted towards the water. With a sob, Buffy buried her face in William's shoulder, unable to continue watching the event any more.

"It's gonna catch on fire any minute now," Xander whispered, his voice a curiously flat monotone. "A spark from the radio will ignite the gas in the water."

As soon as he finished speaking, it came happened -- a faint whooshing sound, accompanied by the flicker of flames that soon engulfed the school bus.

"Oh, God! Fuck! Listen, you guys," Faith choked out. They could faintly hear the frantic screams of their friends over the roar of the fire. "They -- they're burning alive!"

"May God have mercy on their poor souls," Giles intoned softly. His glasses hung limp in his grasp as he helplessly watched the tragedy unfold befor them. If not for Xander, it might well have been them, too...

A deafening roar shook the air and a fire-rose blossomed into the morning sky.

"Oh, my God! Oh my God!" Andrew murmured over and over. Covering his ears to block out the tortured sounds, he sank weakly to the ground.

The group could hear the faint sound of sirens as the emergency vehicles, alerted by the massive explosion, rushed towards the scene from downtown. Giles and Oz helped Andrew to his feet, Faith leaned into Xander, as William continued to comfort Buffy. Numb from the shock and fear of almost losing their lives, they turned to meet the approaching fire trucks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Did you hear that some kid is claiming he had a dream about the accident?" one of the patrol officer asked his partner.

His partner shrugged. He was Sunnydale born and raised, so a precognitive dream was pretty low on the freak-out meter in his opinion.

"I've already been asked to do funeral duty," the first cop continued.

"We all have, Simmons," his partner snarled. "That many funerals in just a couple of days are bound to bring out all kinds of riff-raff." 

"You know, Wilkins, just because you're the Mayor's nephew doesn't mean you can be an asshole with me!" Simmons spat in return.

"Watch it, or I'll tell Uncle Rich I need a new partner," Wilkins threatened. "And keep your mouth shut about that kid and his dream."

"Sure, whatever." Simmons rolled his eyes. "This town is fucking weird," he muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two days later, the entire town turned out for the funeral of Anya Jenkins, Charles Gunn, and the teenagers who lost their lives in the accident. Even the Mayor showed up.

Xander felt guilty for not trying harder to get his friends Willow and Jesse to leave the bus with them. He put a flower below each of the placards that represented his best friends -- from first grade all through school. 

"I'm sorry for your loss, Xander."

Xander turned to find Ms. French, the sexy new biology teacher, standing behind him. "Thanks, Ms. French," he said sadly. "I don't think I'll be up to doing that project of yours. Not without Jesse, anyway."

"That's too bad," Ms. French cooed. She trailed a hand up Xander's arm. "Are you sure I can't change your mind?" 

Xander gave the teacher an odd look. Was she coming on to him at a _funeral_? Because that was just ... icky. He backed away from her warily. "No, I don't think so, Ms. French." 

"Okay, then, I'll just check in with Andrew and Blaine to see if they want to do the project instead." Ms. French looked around for the boys in question.

"You do that," Xander muttered. The feeling that he'd somehow just had a brush with death overwhelmed him. William and Buffy joined Xander as Ms. French moved away.

"What did she want?" William asked.

"She gives me the wiggins," Buffy commented. "Faith and I were hanging out in Weatherly Park one night last week, and Ms. French was walking home from the store when this really gross guy with a Freddy Kruger hand, deformed fac, and nasty looking teeth jumped out at her."

"What happened?" Xander said. _Just another night in Sunnydale,_ he thought. _Damn, those gang members on PCP sure get around._

"He took one look at her and ran away screaming," Buffy replied. "It was so weird."

"She likes virgins," William commented as he watched Ms. French approach Blaine.

"Blaine's not a virgin," Xander replied. He'd been jealous when he heard the other boy's tale of getting laid. Some kids had all the luck.

"You believed his story?" Buffy giggled. "According to Ambrosia, he was out of the starting chute too soon, and didn't finish the race if you know what I mean." She winked.

Xander and William chuckled at Buffy's words.

"Looks like he's gonna get lucky tonight," Xander said. "I don't think that's legal though. I know good old California's kinda progressive law-wise, but I still think it's jail time for seducing the student body."

"Andrew's gonna get lucky too," Buffy said.

"I always thought Andy boy was a little light in the loafers." Faith's voice sounded quietly from behind Xander, who jumped at the noise.

"I don't think so. Not really, anyway," William replied. "Andrew wants some love and acceptance. His mom and dad's love begins and ends with his older brother, Tucker. Anything Andrew gets is leftovers. So, for him, it wouldn't matter if it was male or female, as long as he was loved."

Rupert Giles and Oz joined the four teenagers watched the teacher leave with the two boys. 

"Why don't you invite your friends over, William?" Giles suggested to his son. "It'll be the perfect opportunity to show off the newly finished basement."

"You wanna come to my house, pet?" William wiggled his eyebrows at Buffy.

"Sounds like fun." Buffy gave the curly-haired boy a kiss on the cheek.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Xander opened his front door to find William and Buffy making out on his front porch while Faith looked on paralyzed with boredom. He had never thought that William possessed exhibitionist qualities, but the other boy didn't seem to have any trouble performing in front of an audience.

Xander cleared his throat loudly. "I guess you two are the newest couple to gossip about?"

"Oh, yeah, they are," Faith grumbled. "Did you know we've been here for ten minutes. They've just been too busy playing tonsil hockey to friggin' knock."

William pulled reluctantly away from Buffy. "Let's get to school. Snyder called Dad. He's expecting us delinquents to put together posters for the Parent-Teacher night."

"Been there, done that," Buffy and Faith muttered at the same time. Snyder always seemed to have it in for them, and they remembered doing the same thing in October for Back to School night.

"Let's go!" William ushered the other teens to his big, black Desoto. "If we do this together, we'll whip them out in a heartbeat."

"Is Oz meeting us at school?" Faith asked.

"Yep, I left a message with Andrew's mother, too." William smirked. "She was kinda pissy with me. Seems he didn't make it home last night though. What's the bet he got really lucky?"

"Since when have you been considered a delinquent, Giles?" Xander asked. William was usually the teacher's pet, even though he rarely flaunted it.

"Well, one -- I got off the bus with you, Harris." William opened the car door for Buffy. "Two, when the old sod called at five a.m. this mornin', I told him to go bugger himself."

"You didn't?" Buffy gasped. She wished she had the guts to say something like that to Snyder.

"Oh, I did. And when he called back and blustered about it to Dad, Dad told him 'what do you bloody well expect at this hour of the morning?'." William did a fair imitation of his father's voice.

Faith burst out laughing. "You Brits are such cards."

"Yeah, wild cards." William leered.

The ride to school was fairly uneventful. It wasn't until they were inside that Xander freaked out a little. As Faith strolled down the hallways towards the supply closet for a quick smoke while she gathered the poster paints, she started to hum and then began to sing--

"Dust in the wind. All we are are is dust in the wind..."

"Faith!" Xander shouted. "Could you sing something else? _Anything_ else?" hemuttered darkly. 

"Yeesh! What's up with you, Xan-man?" Faith demanded.

"That song was in my dream." Xander shuddered.

"Oh, sorry. That song's older than dirt anyway. I don't know why it came to mind." Giving him an apologetic look over her shoulder, Faith opened the supply closet door. 

And she let out a long ,shrill scream when a headless body fell out on top of her.

Xander let out his own shriek when a head rolled his direction. He realized with a sense of horror that the head resting on his dirty Vans belonged to Andrew Wells and the body belonged to Blaine Taylor -- both of whom he'd last seen leaving the funeral with the sexy, but wig-worthy Ms. French.

"GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" Faith screamed. She pushed futilely against the dead weight that pinned her to the floor.

William and Buffy rushed up. They'd heard the screams from down the hall. Oz and Giles came running from the direction of the library.

"Help me," Giles told William, and together they lifted Blaine's body off Faith.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" William grimaced at the body.

"I received an urgent call from Snyder after you left to pick up your friends, William," Giles wheezed. He was really too old for this nonsense.

"About a body in the supply closet?"

"No, apparently the police found the body of an elderly woman early this morning." Giles removed his glasses, and he wiped them off on his handkerchief. "Whoever is teaching here isn't the real Ms. French."

"So, where is the fake Ms. French?" William asked cautiously.

"I think a better question would be what did she do with Andrew's body?" Buffy shuddered. "And Blaine's head." She put her head against William's shoulder. "There's been so much death and destruction. How much more will there be?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the basement of one of the multitude of abandoned buildings in Sunnydale, the naked headless body that used to be Andrew Wells moved and bucked under the watchful gaze of Blaine Taylor's head as the eggs laid inside of Andrew started to grow.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"This is so lame," Faith hissed. She sat in the outer area of the principal's office with William, Buffy, Xander, and Oz. "Snyder acts like _we_ had something to do with Andrew and Blaine's deaths." She sat in the out area of the principal's office with William, Buffy, Xander, and Oz.

Inside Snyder's office they could hear the little weasel chastising Rupert Giles about the scandal. It appeared that the principal was tired of all the bad publicity surrounding the high school. He acted as if Giles was personally responsible for everything that had happened.

"Yeah, you'd think these were the first dead bodies found here," Buffy scoffed. She nudged Faith. "Remember when we first moved here and Aphrodisia and Aura found that body stuffed in a gym locker?"

Faith nodded mutely. Andrew and Blaine certainly weren't the first Sunnydale High students that something had happened to.

"You and every single one of those hoodlums will stay here and clean up this mess, Mr. Giles," Snyder shouted. "You don't have tenure. I can get rid of you at any time. You and that smart assed son of yours."

William met the other teenagers' pointed looks and shrugged unrepentantly. He liked being a smart ass.

"You need to keep him away from that little troublemaker Buffy Summers, if you ever expect to salvage him." Snyder's sneering voice got louder. "I'll have you know that she and her cousin burned down the gym at their last school. They're both nothing but juvenile delinquents!"

"It was smoking mice," Buffy protested. She pouted when the boys snorted in disbelief. "One little mistake and it haunts you forever."

Faith stretched like a sleek jungle cat and eased to her feet. "Well, I say screw that evil little Nazi. There's a killer party tonight and I'm gonna get my freak on if it kills me." Her sultry eyes swept over the others and landed on Xander with a speculative gleam. "Any of you coming with me?"

"William?" Buffy turned to her boyfriend. "You wanna go?"

William shook his head and leered at her. "I'd rather spend our time alone."

Faith nodded. She couldn't begrudge the new couple their alone time. She turned to the other two boys. "Oz? Harris?"

Oz shook his head. "Dad's got a bee in his bonnet since my near death experience."

"Ah. Father/son bonding?"

Oz gave a small nod.

As much as he longed to connect with the brazen brunette, Xander was once again suffused with a sense of panic when he thought about going off with Faith to this party. He shook his head. "I'm not so good at pretending. Things aren't normal, and I can't forget."

"Well, it's all five by five." Faith licked her lips and shot him one last look filled with temptation. When Xander regretfully turned away, she shrugged carelessly. "Guess I'll see you all later."

"Be careful, Faith." Buffy warned as her cousin slipped out of the office. They could hear her footsteps echo through the empty halls as she strutted towards the exit.

The four that remained were quiet for a moment, then William asked Oz, "So... father/son bonding?" 

"Hunting," Oz supplied.

"I didn't know your father hunted. " Xander was a little surprised. Oz's father was a short, soft-spoken man who was more academic than physical. Guns and blood sport didn't seem to be in his nature.

"His new friend, Caine Wolfhunter, got him interested." Oz shrugged. The way the strange man looked at him gave him the heebie-jeebies, but his father seemed to like him well enough.

"Is this Caine git an Indian?" William asked.

"Native American," Buffy admonished. She gave Xander a wan smile. "Remember at Thanksgiving how Willow would jump all over us in American History when we'd say Indians? We were studying the local natives... the Chumash."

"Yeah, that was funny." Xander returned the sad smile with one of his own. "And of course Jesse kept saying it just to make her mad."

"Yeah."

"Not... Native American," Oz answered William's question absently. He was recalling Willow's ire at her friends' teasing, and how he'd been attracted to the spunky redhead.

"When are you going hunting?" Xander's question brought him back to the present.

"Tonight. Apparently the full moon makes for good hunting."

"Fine! I quit!" Rupert Giles' voice rattled the principal's door.

Each of them looked at the other with wide, shocked eyes. Of all the school's faculty, William's father was the one seemed the most level tempered. Him shouting that he was quitting must mean things were pretty bad. Suddenly, the door was flung open, and Giles stalked out. His face was red and it was easy to see how livid he was.

"Let's go, Spike," Giles growled as he stomped past his son.

Buffy mouthed 'Spike?' at Xander, who was just as confused as she was.

"Uh oh," William whispered. "That means Ripper's in control." He quickly got to his feet and followed after his father.

Buffy, Xander, and Oz rose to their feet too. As they started to follow the two Giles men, Snyder came storming out of his office.

"If you leave this school, I'll have you expelled!" he ranted.

Buffy glared at Snyder and drew herself up to stand as tall she could. "Go bugger yourself!" she spat out.

Snyder pointed a shaking finger at the girl. "That's it, missy! You're expelled."

"You'd better expel me, too," Xander sneered. "I say, go bugger yourself sideways."

"And upside down." Oz gave Snyder a cool look.

"You... you... hoodlums," Snyder sputtered, his face nearly purple with rage. "Get out of my school before I call the cops!"

"Gladly!" William had come back for his friends and he quickly put his arm around Buffy. "Let's go, pet."

Together, the quartet left the principal's office. They sauntered down the hallway, deciding if they were going to be labeled as delinquents, they might as well look the part.

"Boy, I wish that guy would drop dead," Buffy grumbled.

The boys were so busy agreeing that none of them heard the soft whisper of 'wish granted', or the thud of Snyder's body hitting the floor in his secretary's office.

"So, explain the whole Spike and Ripper thing to me," Buffy said. She leaned adoringly into William's side.

"Dad used to be in a band called Ripper and Rayne. He's Ripper." William gave Buffy a grin. "I used to have white blond hair when I was little that stood up in spikes, so Uncle Ethan nicknamed me Spike."

"Heard of Ripper and Rayne," Oz commented mildly. "Good music."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xander shot up in his bed when the radio blared the next morning.

"And that was 'Dust in the Wind' by Kansas," the DJ announced. "This is KSND, Sunnydale 103.3 on the F.M. dial. Top of the morning to you all."

"Fuck," Xander muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He'd had a restless night, plagued with the oddest dream about Faith. In most of them, she was drunk and dancing erotically at a party with two women he didn't recognize. He was ashamed to admit the dream of the sultry brunette grinding against another woman with flowing dark hair and a petite blonde had given him a morning boner that actually hurt.

"The top news this morning; Albert Allen Snyder, the local high school principal, was found dead in his office this morning by the janitorial crew. There appeared to be no foul play involved, but police are anxious to know if Snyder's death had any connection to the body of a young girl found hanging in a basement room directly located below the principal's office. Snyder is being checked by the medical examiner's office to see if he might have consumed the blood that is missing from the girl. Her identity is being withheld until her relatives can be notified."

"Only in Sunnydale," a second DJ interrupted. "That certainly tops my story of an overnight hunting accident."

"Snyder's dead?" Xander pumped the air with a fist. "Good deal," he cheered.

Leaping from the bed, he headed for the bathroom, completely missing the next part of the news report.

"Daniel Osbourne and his son, Daniel Osbourne Jr. were killed last night by unknown assailants while on a wolf hunt," the second DJ continued.

"Wasn't he one of the kids that got off the school bus last week, Tom?" the first DJ asked.

"Right you are, Bob," his partner replied. "I guess death found him after all."

Ten minutes later, Xander's mother knocked on the bathroom door. "That friend of yours, Willy, is on the phone," she said drunkenly.

"All right, Mom." Xander shook his head. He couldn't believe how early his parents were starting to get sauced these days. He knew there was nothing on Earth that would make him drink.

Buttoning his shirt, Xander jogged downstairs to answer the phone. "William?"

"Hey, Harris." William's voice sounded flat.

"What happened?" Xander was suddenly on alert.

"They found Faith this morning at the high school." William sighed. "She was bled dry. Had these weird cuts all over her chest and stomach. They think Snyder was involved."

"That was Faith?" Xander slipped down the wall to the floor. He felt a little faint now. The Kansas song, followed by the new report about the hunting accident, flashed through his mind. "What about Oz?"

"Oz?" William sounded confused. "Why do you think there's something wrong with Oz?"

"The second report on the radio was about a hunting accident, but I went for a shower. I missed it." Xander put his head in his hands. "They played that damned song before the reports."

"What song?" William asked curiously. He tried to remember Harris mentioning a song to him.

"Dust in the Wind," Xander grunted. "It was from my dream. Faith was singing it yesterday just before we found the bodies."

"Coincidence?" William tried to reason. He knew Sunnydale was a weird little town, but what Harris was implying was impossible. 

Wasn't it?

"Think about it, man." Xander shook his head despite the fact that William couldn't see him. "Seven of us got off that bus, and three of us are dead. This is bad. Very bad."

"That's absurd," William spluttered. He tried to deny it all one last time.

"Really? Then why did I feel like I had near brushes with death when I refused to go with Ms. French at the funeral and then again when I didn't go with Faith?"

"You did?" William was glad he was sitting down. "Me, too. I thought it was weird, you know?" He was glad to get that off his chest.

"Your dad's good at the research, right?" Xander replied. "Do you think he could find out anything about this?"

"If it's out there, Dad can find it," William boasted. "I'll go talk to him right now."

"Be careful, dude."

"You, too, mate." William grabbed a piece of paper. He started to write down everything from Xander's descriptions of his dreams and feelings. "Hold on. So, a dream about a disaster, a reoccurring song, and death to those who managed to sidestep the disaster. Anything else?"

"I don't think so," Xander muttered. Wasn't that enough?

"Okay, I'll call you when we have something." William hung up the phone and went to find his father.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Xander knocked anxiously on the Giles' front door. His mind still lingered on the brush with death he'd had on the way to his friend's house. He'd been downtown near a strange little shop called the Magic Box when a car came up on the sidewalk. It had been a near miss, but it wouldn't have bothered him so much if 'Dust in the Wind' hadn't been blaring from its speakers at that moment. Xander was still shaken twenty minutes later.

He knocked again. Finally, William answered the door. The other young man looked as upset as Xander felt. "What's up, Giles," he asked anxiously.

William gestured for Xander to enter the house. "Buffy and I were down in the rec room watching the telly when that big mirror behind the couch fell down. We were able to jump out of the way, but it was close."

"I thought your dad said it was stuck on there permanently," Xander commented as he stepped inside. "Didn't he say that the contractor said the whole wall would have to be removed to get the mirror down?"

William silently nodded as he led Xander into the dining room where they joined Buffy and Rupert. Xander sat across from the table from the elder Giles while William slid into a chair next to Buffy.

Rupert Giles handed each of the teenagers a sheaf of papers. Then, he went into librarian lecture mode.

"Sunnydale's original name was Boca del Inferno, which, literally translated, means 'the mouth of Hell'." Giles pointed out on the first page. "In early the 1850's -- possibly 1852 -- Richard Wilkins arrived in search of gold. He renamed the site Sunnydale when he incorporated the area into a town."

"Wow, he sure does look like the current Mayor Wilkins." Buffy peered at the old tintype photo on the next page of the packet. "He must really have some dominant genes."

"There's no death certificate issued for Richard Wilkins, and the only birth certificate I could find was from 1800," Giles informed them. "Considering the events I have run across in my research, nothing would surprise me now; including the fact that there are several eyewitness accounts which state that Wilkins turned into a giant snake at the 1952 high school graduation."

"Guess his disguise is pretty good," William muttered.

"What about my dream?" Xander asked. He wanted to get back on track.

"Ah yes. If you'll turn to the next page..." Giles flipped his own packet of papers open. "I found several small articles from 1937 about a young parishioner of a local church that fell asleep during a Wednesday night church service. He had to be forcibly removed as he spouted that the church was going to be 'swallowed by the earth' and the entire congregation would be eaten by a 'bat faced monster'."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," William commented dryly.

"Six other members of the congregation accompanied the young man out of the church," Giles continued dramatically. "Within an hour, the building and all of its occupants disappeared when a great earthquake shook the entire valley. In fact, several building around town disappeared at the same time."

"Somehow, I get the feeling that wasn't the end," Xander muttered.

"Right you are," Giles answered. "Within two weeks each of the seven people -- the young man who had the dream included -- were dead."

Buffy let out a gasp. She glanced over their descriptions of the deaths. It seemed the papers in the early 1900's were much more descriptive than the modern day accounts. She paled as she put the papers down.

"I found mention of an incident with the same earmarks approximately seventy years prior to the earthquake," Giles continued on. "I couldn't find much information on the event other than a young woman refused to board a ship bound for New Orleans from the now defunct Sunnydale docks. She mentioned a dream on the ride to the docks and a music box song several times."

"What happened to the ship?" William asked.

"It arrived in New Orleans as scheduled." Giles took off his glasses and polished them. "However, the only remaining crew member was insane, and was of no help to the authorities as to why every single person on board was dead. Strangely, it preceded an outbreak of Yellow Fever that killed thousands in the city."

"And the girl who got off?" Xander looked the papers over carefully as he searched for the answer himself.

"I don't know. I need to go to the Crawford Street Museum to continue my research." Giles shoved his glasses back on his face. "Whatever is going on isn't normal, and it appears to be yet another strange Sunnydale phenomenon."

"Be careful, Dad," William warned, his face filled with concern. He really wasn't comfortable with the thought of his father going off somewhere alone. "If you hear that song that Harris mentioned, you need to get away from wherever you are."

Xander nodded in agreement. "A car almost hit me on the way here, 'Dust like the Wind' was blaring from its stereo. The guy didn't even stop or anything."

"We were watching the news when the mirror fell." Buffy gulped and paled. "There was a report about some cult activity going on up at Pointy Cove, out past Kingman's Bluff."

"Yeah, and we could hear that song playing in the background." William put his arm around his shivering girlfriend and pulled her closer, kissing Buffy on the forehead.

"I will use the utmost caution," Giles assured his son. "There's money for pizza in the sideboard, William. Xander, Buffy, I would be delighted if you kept William company while I'm gone."

"Sounds good, Mr. Giles." Xander gave him a sad grin. Last time, Oz had been with them, and he missed the laid back boy. Besides, they needed to psych themselves up for the trio of funerals they had to attend the next day. Faith's funeral was scheduled for 10 am while Oz and his father's double funeral would be held at 1 pm. 

"I'll be back as soon as possible." Giles bid the young people farewell as he left the house.

"Mmm, pizza," Buffy said. "I wish Faith was here to share it with us. God, I miss her."

"Oz, too," William replied, unknowingly echoing Xander's sentiment. He let out a sigh. "I sure hope Dad's careful. I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"I'm sure he will be." Buffy patted her boyfriend's arm with more confidence than she felt. "He's Mr. Careful."

William reluctantly nodded, but for some reason he was filled with dread. He had a horrible feeling he would never see his father alive again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, William was awakened by a pounding knock on the door. He lay in bed for a few minutes, expecting his father to answer the door. When the pounding continued, William stumbled out of his bed. He grabbed his robe on the way to the front foyer.

"What the bloody hell do you want?" William growled as he opened the door. He blinked in surprise at the two police officers standing on the porch. "Sorry," he mumbled and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. 

"William Giles? I'm Officer Wilkins, and this is my partner, Officer Simmons. We're here about your father." Wilkins showed William his badge and I.D.

William's stomach churned with unease as he examined the identification. He vaguely remembered the two policemen from the aftermath of the bus accident. "What about my dad?" he asked in a soft voice.

"May we come in, Mr. Giles?" Wilkins realized that though William was of age, he was still just a very young man. Breaking this news to him wasn't going to be easy at all.

William waved the officers into the house, where he led them to the living room. They each nervously took a seat. 

"About my dad, then?" William prompted. He really wanted to get this all over with. It was bad enough dealing with three funerals that would start in just a few short hours. Now, there was something going on with his dad on top of them.

"Do you know your father's movements last night?" Wilkins asked. "We're trying to form a timeline."

"You were at the bus accident," William said quietly. "So, you know that Andrew, Faith, and Oz are dead."

"That other boy, Harris, said he had a dream about the accident," Simmons scoffed. "What a bunch of hooey!"

William gave Simmons a cool look. He didn't like people making fun of his friends. He turned to Wilkins. "Well, Dad was researching it."

"That's stupid," Simmons muttered.

"Shut up, Simmons," Wilkins snarled at his partner. He turned back to William. Wilkins knew that Sunnydale was different than other towns. "Did he discover anything?"

William nodded. "There was a similar event in 1937, and another one decades before that. About seventy years or so, according to dad. He went to do some research at the Crawford Street Museum. He went yesterday afternoon around three oclock. Is my dad okay?" He glanced at Wilkins apprehensively.

"Some early morning bird watchers found your father's body up on Kingman's Bluff this morning," Simmons said maliciously. He didn't like William Giles at all. He was sure the boy was nothing more than a wise ass punk.

William's head fell against the back of his chair. He had already figured out something must have had gone terribly wrong for his father the night before. True, he had gone to bed before Rupert made it home, but he hadn't been able to keep his eyes open for a minute longer.

"Where were you last night?" Simmons demanded harshly, contempt and accusation dripping from his voice.

"Mr. Giles is not a suspect," Wilkins snarled. They had already questioned William's friends, so they knew that the young man's movements were accounted for.

William raised his head. "It's okay. Xander Harris and Buffy Summers were here with me until midnight. We watched some movies and ordered in some pizza around seven."

"Anything else that might help?" Wilkins asked.

"Mr. Best, the school superintendent called about nine. I took a message." William looked over at Wilkins. "How did my father die?"

Wilkins cleared his throat. "From the coroner's peliminary report, it would appear that he was ... um ... dismembered with a chainsaw at approximately 9 p.m. last night."

William paled considerably. He'd hoped his father's death had been a painless one, but the reality wasn't to be. "Maybe it wasn't my father you found." William tried to declare strongly. In spite of his efforts, it came out sounding weak.

"I'm sorry, young man. Your father's identity was confirmed," Wilkins said softly. "To work in the Sunnydale school system, a sample of a teacher's fingerprints and blood must go on file. "

"What about Ms. French?" William muttered. "She was the last one to see Andrew and Blaine alive."

"Whoever posed as Ms. French killed her, stole her identity, blood, and fingerprints," Wilkins replied. "I expect you to keep that under your hat, Mr. Giles. The SDPD is still investigating that case."

"You could get fired for telling him that," Simmons hissed at Wilkins, who gave the man another dirty look.

William nodded slowly. This was more than he could handle, especially since he was still needed to handle both Faith's and Oz's funerals. Now, he had more pressing problems with making his own father's funeral arrangements. 

"I know your friends' funerals are today," Wilkins said. "I was wondering if you could come down to the station first thing tomorrow?"

William nodded, knowing it was police procedure. He'd watched enough A&E true crime shows with his father to know that.

"We'll let you get ready for your day." Wilkins rose to his feet. He stuck out his hand to William. "I'm very sorry for your loss. All of them. Just ask for Ricky Wilkins at the station. The desk sergeant will send you my way. Come on, Simmons."

As Wilkins left with his grumbling partner, William reminded himself to ask him later if he was any relation to Mayor Wilkins.

After the police officers left the Giles household, Wilkins didn't tell his partner that he had a feeling that they'd never see William Giles alive again.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Wilkins glanced at his watch again. William Giles had agreed to come by the station for an interview about his father. However the boy had never shown up. Despite how much Simmons badmouthed the young man, Wilkins was sure Giles was reliable. Nothing in William's profile indicated otherwise, however, the boy had never shown..

Pulling out his notebook to look up Xander Harris' phone number, Wilkins dialed. As he waited for someone to answer, the same feeling of foreboding he'd experienced the day before filled the policeman. He was sure he wasn't going find William Giles no matter how much he searched, but procedures had to be upheld.

"Harris residence," Xander answered the phone with a dull voice.

"Hello, Xander, this is Officer Wilkins with the Sunnydale PD. I was wondering if by any chance you might have heard from young Mr. Giles?"

"No, I haven't. I'm getting worried, too," Xander replied. He fidgeted with the phone cord. "I expected him and Buffy to stop over for lunch, but they never showed. When I called Buffy's mom, she was frantic because Buffy didn't come home. There's no answer at Will's house, either."

"I guess that answers my next question," Wilkins muttered under his breath. 

"I do know that William wouldn't skip out on his meeting with you." A full whiskey bottle sat on the table beside his old man's recliner, and for the first time that day, he wondered where his parents were. They seldom made it out of bed, let alone out of the house before noon. Nearly hypnotized by the way the sun glinted through the brown liquor, he had to force himself to resume his conversation with Officer Wilkins.

"Will was ... he was really broken up about his dad. They were really close." He felt a little jealous, actually, since his relationship with his own father sucked rotten eggs.

"I'll send a patrol car by the Giles residence, just in case." Wilkins tapped his pencil against his notebook. "If you hear from William, please tell him that I'm looking for him."

"Sure thing." Xander stared hard at the bottle of alcohol. Much to his dismay, he thought he saw something dark and sinister swirling in its depths. He gulped and shuddered as he looked away. "I'll be the last one, you know. If Will and Buffy are gone."

Wilkins didn't know what to say. He guessed Harris wasn't any more optimistic than he was about William Giles being alive. Wilkins was equally sure in the near future a report on Buffy Summers would be joining the unsolved case files.

"Wonder what kind of freaky death is in store for me," Xander said absently. "I gotta go, Officer. If I see William, I'll tell him you called." He put down the phone, nervously wiping his sweaty palms on the seat of his pants.

_Xander, look at me._

Holy Mother of Pearl, it was speaking to him. And not only that, it sounded like his father's usual drunken slur. Refusing to acknowledge it, he hurried into the kitchen, only to find what looked like the exact same bottle sitting on the counter by the fridge.

_Xander, don't ignore me! I'm talking to you._

Now the voice was his mother's screechy voice. Completely freaked by now, Xander stuck his fingers in his ears. "La la la la, I'm not listening to you." Heart pounding, he ran to his bedroom. 

Xander slipped into his room and threw himself onto his bed.

_Xander Harris, I'm your friend. I can make you feel so much better._

"Ahhh, go away!" Xander screamed. "You're a bottle of booze. You can't really talk. I must be going fucking insane."

_I can make it all go away. I can make you forget everything, even the fact that all your friends are dead and that it's all ... your ... fault._

"It's not my fault," Xander snarled heatedly. "The dream wasn't my fault at all."

_Of course it's not._

"Make up your damned mind."

_I can help you make up **your** mind. Just open me up and take a drink or two._

"If I do, will you stop your fucking talking?"

_Of course, otherwise I'll just sit here and sing to you. Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall----_

"I'll take a drink! I'll take a drink!" Xander grabbed the bottle and unscrewed the lid. Raising it to his lips, he took a big swig which burned like fire all the way down. "There you happy?" 

The whiskey bottle was finally, blessedly silent, and Xander smiled as he took another swig. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alexander 'Xander' Harris lay on his bed, lost in thought. He was thinking about the last two weeks of his life and the bus ride that had started all this craziness. He took a swig from his whiskey bottle as he slipped back in time...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xander was pulled from his memories by a pounding on the front door. A glance at the window, showed him it had gotten dark during his trip down memory lane. The only noise in the house was the from the front door so he stumbled out of his room and down the hall towards the foyer.

"Yeah, yeah! I'm coming." Xander stopped in front of the door. 

"Open up, Harris."

"William! Is that you?" Xander hurried to open the door and found William dressed in completely in black. That in itself wasn't so different, but for some odd reason, William had decided to bleach his hair white-blond. Plastered to his side was Buffy, wearing blood red lipstick that perfectly matched the tightest leather outfit Xander had ever seen in his life. "Wow, Buff, you look hot!"

"You gonna invite us in, Xan?" Buffy cooed, her long red, nails caressing William's sleeve.

"Of course, come in, William," Xander hiccuped. "You too, Buffy. So good to see a friendly face."

"Thanks, Harris." William strolled casually into the house. "Look, pet. No barrier."

"Huh?" Xander gave William a strange look.

"Never you mind, Xan," Buffy said in a sultry voice. She gave Xander a heated look. "Your parents here?"

Xander dumbly shook his head. He'd always thought Buffy was cute and sexy, but with her dramatic make up and temptress' outfit, she reminded him of Faith. He licked his suddenly dry lips.

"You've knocked the whelp for a loop, kitten," William drawled. He led Buffy towards the living room.

"I'm so glad to see you guys alive," Xander mumbled. "When Wilkins called this morning, I was sure you two had bit the dust." 

"Not us." Without sparing Xander a glance, Buffy pushed William down on the couch and crawled onto this lap. "As you can see, we're fit as fiddles."

Xander focused blurry eyes on the blond couple. He realized that William was wearing a long black leather coat that he'd never seen before. "What's up with the Goth look, Giles?"

"I think he looks great." Buffy leaned in to lick William's jawline. "My Spike is so beautiful. Don't you agree, Xan?"

"Uh, yeah, but I don't swing that way." Xander gawked as William's hand slid up Buffy's leather incased leg.

"Got the coat off some bint on the way over here. She just jumped out of the bushes and attacked us." William smirked at Xander over Buffy's shoulder. "Told the little bitch that we'd already outwitted death."

"What?" Xander looked at William and Buffy in astonishment. "How'd you do that?"

"Oh, it was really easy, Xan." Buffy turned oddly bright green eyes on him. "You see, we were walking home last night and we met these two women."

"Real lookers those two," William agreed. His smirk grew wider. 

"Yeah, they were so hot, weren't they?" Buffy's face went slack with pleasure at her inner thoughts. "Mmm," she moaned huskily. "The things they did to us ... Darla is the best, after Spike, of course." 

William chuckled. Closing both hands around Buffy's perfect peach of a bottom, he bounced her on his lap. "And Dru ... a right nutter, she was."

He reached up and ran his fingers over Buffy's glossy lips, his mouth falling open on a soundless gasp as she captured his middle finger between her lips and sucked teasingly.

"It was Drusilla who told us the solution to our little problem, Harris."

Xander was so enthralled with their erotic foreplay that he almost missed William's comment. "Oh, what's that?" 

"To just let death have us," Buffy replied. She hopped off of William's lap and advanced on Xander.

"But ... but you're still alive," Xander suddenly had a very bad feeling about this, and he felt stone cold sober as he back slowly towards the door.

"Not so much, actually." With that chilling statement, Buffy's face rippled into a monster's guise. Ridges distorted her forehead, her eyes glowed with an unholy yellow fire, and her teeth elongated into razor-sharp points.

Xander screamed before he bolted for the front door. He was brought up short by a vice-like grip on his arm.

"I don't think so, mate," William snickered as he pulled the struggling boy into the living room.

Fighting to get free, Xander wondered when William had gotten so strong. Then he got a look at the other boy's face. It was just as monstrous as Buffy's. He screamed again.

"Can't outrun death, Xan." Buffy trailed a finger down Xander's cheek. "The best you can do is give in to it." She pouted at William. "I'm hungry, Spike." 

"Eat up, kitten," William encouraged her. "I'm not much hungry after that bint we fought earlier." He wrenched Xander's head to the side, exposing his pounding jugular.

"You're so good to me, baby," Buffy purred in response to William's urgings. She bared her teeth at Xander and leaned into his neck.

"Please, I don't want to die!" Xander squealed when Buffy's fangs entered his neck, but his former friends showed no mercy. A wave of dizziness swept over him as the blood rushed from his body, and then the world went black for Xander Harris.


End file.
